Sopapillas
Until a recent trip to New Mexico, the delightfully fluffy fried excuse to enjoy honey served after a Tex- Mex dinner had been my only exposure to sopapillas. However, after a few days cruising from Albuquerque to Taos, it was quite clear that sopapillas are much more versatile than I had anticipated.
Whether stuffed and smothered or simply filled, these decadent pillows of dough proved to be a nice change of pace.
Although Albuquerque, N.M., is heralded for bringing us the sopapilla over 200 years ago, many cultures in the Middle East and South America had long been deep frying bread. The etymology of the word can be traced through many languages, such as sopaipa in Spanish, perhaps the Germanic term suppa for bread soaked in broth, or the Mozarabic word xupaipa, leaving the origination a challenge.
The first time I heard stuffed sopapillas mentioned, I was listening to a travel podcast highlighting the culture and culinary delights of New Mexico as I hurtled across 12 hours of beautiful, flat country toward Santa Fe, N.M. So, it was a fortunate portent when the first restaurant menu I opened in New Mexico featured three choices.
While some restaurants have tongue and cheek versions, the staple fillings are seasoned chicken, shredded beef brisket or succulent chili-braised pork called carne adovada.
These light pockets of savory delight are usually served covered in your choice of sauce on a plate with sides of frijoles (beans) or posole (hominy). The two sauces are a rich, spicy, red chile sauce, or the lighter, green chile verde. For the undecided you can order the sauce half and half. Our podcast guide recommended that ordering half and half as “Christmas style” was the proper local way to order, but this seems suspect as my first attempt garnered a confused smirk from my server and the second an outright eye roll. Fortunately, I learned quickly that green chile verde was my personal favorite.
After my first taste, a myriad of filling options and sauces danced through my mental recipe file. The options really are wide open. Think of the possibilities for using leftover pot roast with gravybased sauce or shredded chicken with a chicken mushroom sauce. And my, oh, my, anything is good stuffed with a little Louisiana chicken and sausage jambalaya!
After forming a rather grandiose opinion based on the savory rich stuffed sopapillas enjoyed in Taos and Santa Fe, it was amusing to find some simpler sopapilla cheeseburgers and more unusual versions on menus at diners and fast food places across the state. Stuffy’s Stuffed Sopapilla featured 14 pockets including: No. 1, refried beans, red chili, cheese and lettuce; No. 5, apple pie filling, cheese and powdered sugar; No. 6, scrambled egg, French fries, one hot dog and green chili; and No. 12, Carne adovada, home fried potatoes and scrambled egg. Surely, these selections will prompt some creative filling ideas.
In our praise of the savory, let us not forget the dessert options. While the humble honey-dipped sopapilla of our childhood will always be a favorite, recipes abound for fresh fruit-filled sopapillas dusted with a light coat of powdered sugar, and cheesecake versions with drizzles like raspberry vanilla sauce.
The basic sopapilla dough recipe is fairly simple to make. In a large bowl mix together 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cut in 3 tablespoons of shortening. Add approximately 3/4 cups of warm milk and blend until a dough ball forms. Place the dough ball on a floured surface, then knead, folding until ingredients are smooth and no longer sticky. Heat 4 cups of oil for deep frying to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. On floured board begin rolling out dough until approximately 1/8-1/4 inch thick. To help retain moisture, you may want to split the dough in half and roll out only one half at a time, covering the second half in plastic wrap until ready to roll it out. Keep it simple; overworking the dough will make it tough and dry. Cut dough into roughly three-inch shapes of your choice, round, square or triangle, then introduce into deep fryer. Fry until pocket forms and is golden brown. To help brown both sides evenly, it may be necessary to use a slotted spoon to flip and hold sopapillas down in oil until second side begins to brown. Remove from oil and drain on rack or paper towels. Serve hot.
There are a variety of sopapilla dough recipes out there to sample, some using condensed milk instead of whole milk, and others adding sugar, so do not be afraid to experiment. Speaking of experimenting, what if we added a hint of herb or spice to the dough itself? Hmmm … enjoy!
Lynn Laird is a writer, fine artist and self-professed bon vivant living in Bossier. With “Flair for Cooking,” she seeks out interesting ingredients and techniques to help make everyday meals just a touch more fabulous. She can reached at [email protected].
